A company which creates software for analytical testing in laboratories has been backed with £100,000-worth of funding.

The loans for Runcorn-based CSols come from the Regional Growth Fund and The North West Fund for Micro Loans, managed by Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF).

CSols is the brainchild of Dr Phil Goddard who set up the company, which is based at The Heath Business Business and Technical Park in Runcorn, 15 years ago.

Much of the software interacts with sophisticated analytical instruments that are used to test samples, including water, food, pharmaceuticals, environmental and clinical.

CSols has an international customer base which includes water companies, hospitals, laboratories and household industrial names, such as Shell, Proctor & Gamble and Castrol.

MSIF provided a £100,000 investment using a combination of money from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) and The North West Fund for Micro Loans.

Dr Goddard said: “We have aspirations for very rapid growth over the next two years and need funding to grow the business by selling more products into more application areas and expand internationally.

“Traditionally, we’ve sold our products directly to the end user.

“However, the instruments our software interacts with are generally sold via global instrument vendors, some of which are multi-billion dollar companies, and we are increasingly looking to distribute our products through them.

“We are, therefore, very focused on developing more software that will appeal to the instrument vendors.”

He added: “At the moment most of our business is in the UK.

“We expect significant growth overseas in the next two years as our products are of considerable value to customers in all developed countries.”

MSIF investment manager Sue Chambers said: “CSols is a very exciting business which has built up an impressive blue chip client base. The company is run by a strong management team.”

The North West Fund for Micro Loans is part of the wider North West Fund, which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.